Location! Location! Location!

Business owners and real estate people all believe this is the answer to the question, “what are the three most important things in business”? They know a great ‘location’ is an integral asset. I think God must think it is pretty important also based on the first question he ever asked man: “Where are you?”

Of course, God already knew the answer. Not only did he know where Adam and Eve were hiding, the physical location, he knew from what, why and whom they were hiding. They were attempting to hide from God because they were guilty, and the sin they had committed had broken and severed their relationship with him. But relationship with God was not all that was broken down. Adam and Eve had damaged the perfect marriage relationship too. Genesis 2:25 said before their offense “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” But now they were ashamed of their bodies, each other and proceeded to play the blame game when confronted by God. Once confident and secure in all their relationships-themselves, each other and in God- they now felt embarrassed, disgraced, afraid, helpless, insecure, and guilty!

But broken relationships are not the end of the story! God asks us about our ‘location’ because he is pursuing a personal relationship with us. “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). He wants us to examine ourselves, how we are relating to our self, others and to him so we will seek him, find our trust and our hope in him. God is all about relationship and he desires a personal one with us. Christ’s power through death and resurrection was God’s remedy for broken relationships, fear, hurt, insecurity and every other problem we have. We do not have to live with guilt and shame. The Bible is clear: Christ came to give us life, not to condemn us. His reason for coming was to forgive sin, give us freedom, let us enjoy life fully and to redeem us from hiding (Romans 8:1; Acts 10:43; Galatians 5:1)

So, what’s your location? Maybe you are hearing God calling, asking “Where are you?” He is waiting for you to trust him; pursuing and chasing you to have that personal relationship and mend all the others too. I hope and pray you will follow the prophet Isaiah’s advice “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”